Summer Migrant Species Of Butterfly Entering UK Increase 400% In 25 Years - Times of London

[hatrack]

The number of butterfly and moth species migrating to Britain for the summer has increased fourfold in the past 25 years, researchers have found. With each degree of temperature rise resulting from global warming, 14 extra species can be expected to cross the English Channel in search of new breeding territory. Many will end up staying permanently — as 89 species of moth have already done over the past century — rather than migrate annually.

But while some visitors may be a delight to the eye, there are fears that they could drive out native species and bring disease with them. Butterflies and moths represent only a small proportion of the insect immigrants, said Tim Sparks, of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Monks Wood, Cambridgeshire, who led the study. Others that could arrive here include malaria- carrying mosquitoes.

“Insect migration is a topic of great importance. It has implications for human health and agrarian economics, as well as conservation,” Dr Sparks and his team of researchers report in the European Journal of Entomology.

“Migratory species may be among the most adaptable. For this reason they may represent a competitive threat to resident species, which typically have lower mobility and are more specialised in habitat requirements. They introduce species hosting infections and disease to new regions. They can also have a serious impact on essential crops and garden plants.”

EDIT

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2533295,00.html

[Viva_La_Revolution]

1. Mother Nature's revenge

:scared:

We tried to kill her, and now she's pissed.